'SEND THE NAVY' Watch fuming cabbie clash with Rishi Sunak over small boats crisis as PM is grilled by Sun Cabinet
A LONDON cabbie last night hammered Rishi Sunak over the small boats crisis - demanding he use the Navy to tow migrants back to France.
Grant Davis - who is the Sun Cabinet's Transport Secretary - took the PM to task during our show Never Mind The Ballots.
He said people were "frustrated" with the tens of thousands of illegal migrants arriving each year and demanded radical solutions.
Confronting Mr Sunak directly, he said: "I’m a London cabbie, I speak to my passengers all the time... and the one transport issue that people in the back of my taxi talk to me about a lot of the time is the transport from Calais to Dover in small boats."
In a no-holds barred grilling, the Prime Minister also:
- ANSWERED your quickfire questions
- INVITED Boris Johnson to rally Tory troops in election battle
- VOWED to quit Euro court if needed to stop the boats
- STILL didn't know when general election will be
- PROMISES he WILL tackle disgraceful conditions for veterans
- DENIED claims homeless people will be fined for being smelly
- INSISTED his plan IS working as he hailed tax cutsHe went on: "Why can’t you put the Navy in the Channel so when the dinghies come over, you pull up, tow them back to Calais and say no thank you.
“If you want to send a message to the organised gangs bringing people over, that’s how you do it."
However the Sun's Defence Secretary Hugh Andree said that would represent a breach of France's sovereignty.
Mr Sunak said he shared the "frustration" of many Brits at the relentless Channel crossings that have already surged passed 5,000 migrants this year.
But he said "turn-back" tactics as used successfully by Australia was too dangerous because the dinghies are more flimsy.
He said: "What they were dealing with were very big boats in international waters.
"Where you're talking about an inflatable dinghy, where these gangs stuff dozens more people than they can take."
Grant hit back that it would therefore be safer if the Navy intercepted the boats in the Channel.
Pressure is mounting on Mr Sunak to grip the Channel crisis following a surge in arrivals that has already seen more than 5,000 cross from France this year.
After solid progress last year, the current rate is around 43 per cent higher than the same period in 2023 as the Calais smuggling gangs cram ever more people into the dinghies.
The hardline Reform Party is rising in the polls, while frustrated Sun readers bombarded us with questions for the PM about the immigration issue.
RISHI TACKLES YOUR QUESTIONS
RISHI Sunak faced Sun readers last night in a no-holds-barred grilling.
The PM was quizzed by Political Editor Harry Cole — two weeks after Sir Keir Starmer's appearance on our Never Mind the Ballots show.
And he answered YOUR questions:
Are your trousers too short?
When asked why he wears his trousers up to two inches too short, he laughed: "Well I don't think they are that short."
Pushed on whether he thought his style was trendy or the latest style, he added: "I tend not to like lots of baggy, baggy stuff at the bottom of my ankle. I don't think they are that short."
What is your Wetherspoons order?
The PM was also asked when he last went to one of the nation's favourite pub chains Wetherspoons.
He said: "I was in Wetherspoons actually not that long ago. I think it was in Rother Valley actually… doing one of my events talking to everyone there in the local community.
"We have a Wetherspoons at home in Northallerton which is fantastic."
When asked what his go-to order is, he said: "Well, actually I used to go there with my kids in the old days when I had more time."We used to do the junior Park Run, from memory. But we'd go there for breakfast more than anything else, cos I used to like the breakfasts there. I think I probably still have the app on my phone."
Do your daughters have a smartphone?
He revealed that his two girls Krishna and Anoushka both got phones as they came to the end of their time at Primary School.
But both the PM and his wife Akshata discuss how to "juggle" about the right thing to do with their time on the devices.
When asked whether the girls have smartphones, he said: "Yeah. I have two girls 11 and 12, about to be 13, who thankfully probably won't be watching this.
"They do both have phones. And they got them near the end of Primary School.
"I talked to my wife about this a lot. And we're trying to juggle that like all parents are. I'm forming my views about what the right to do with my wife."
His comments come as some of his MPs are demanding an outright ban on smartphones for under-16s.
The mum of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey demands mobile phones should be made specifically for under-16s to protect them.
Brianna was stabbed 28 times in February last year and was described as anxious and vulnerable - with her family insisting this was partly due to the time with her phone.
The PM added: "I think we certainly need to be very cognisant of the impact that social media is having on young people.
"You seen the rise in mental health. And there's not a definitive link. But there's lots of people saying you need to be careful about this.
"Obviously it's distracting at schools which is why we've been much clearer now that people should not be having mobile phones in schools obviously."
Cabinet Minister Michelle Donelan said the recent online safety laws "ensures the online safety of British society not only now, but for decades to come".
Vowing to “get this thing done”, Mr Sunak said: “On this I’ve been very clear. I believe that our scheme - including the Rwanda part of it - is compliant with all our international obligations, including with the ECHR.
“But I believe that border security and controlling illegal migration is more important than our membership of any foreign court.”
When pressed by political editor Harry Cole, the PM said it was “fundamental to our sovereignty as a country” and did not rule out making it an election pledge.
He added: “It’s why I’ve spent so much of my time as Prime Minister talking about it.
“I come from a family of immigrants - and I think this will always be a welcoming, compassionate country - but that has to be done fairly, it has to be done legally.
“We are a people who wait their turn, pay their fair share, play by the rules, and this offends every one of those notions. That’s why it’s so important that we grip it.“And the choice at the next election is who is more likely to grip this problem. Is it me or is it Keir Starmer?
“I can tell you I will get this thing done for everyone, especially all your Sun readers.”
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